Community produces video: 'And everyone hurts'

GAYLORD - You watch as St. Mary Cathedral School student Caleb Marquardt, and Gaylord High School (GHS) students Theresa Aiello and Betsy Boughner hang out one afternoon.

You see Aiello and Boughner chugging on beers and sipping on shots.

You watch as Aiello and Marquardt argue over who will drive after they leave the house. You see Aiello get behind the wheel, seemingly incapable of maintaining control.

Suddenly you hear the screech of the tires. The police and the fire department and the EMS are on the scene. And the world changes: Marquardt doesn't make it. Boughner is critically wounded. Aiello is taken to jail.

This is the premise of a northern Michigan-produced video called " … And Everyone Hurts." Although the scenes are fictitious and the students are acting, the message is clear and the potential consequences of drinking and driving are real.

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After the accident, the video follows three threads of the individuals who were in the car. Here's Erin Marquardt, washing dishes in her kitchen when she sees two police cars pull into her driveway. She is just about to learn that her son has died in an accident. Here's Kathy Arndt, pacing in the hospital's waiting room when a doctor enters and lets her know that her daughter is not out of the woods yet. And here is Aiello, the weight of a single decision pushes down on her shoulders so hard, all she can do is cry as she stands behind bars.

"It was quite different because it took the perspective of the community as a whole, how they all hurt, not just one person," said Erin Marquardt who was approached by Barb Soffredine from Cheboygan-Otsego-Presque Isle Educational Service District (COP-ESD) to participate in the project. "Everyone was hurt."

The video lasts only a handful of minutes, but its sponsors - the Michigan Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking (MCRUD), COP-ESD and the Otsego County law enforcement agencies - hope that by localizing the video so that students recognized all of the players, the message lasts much longer than that.

Maybe it has.

"Knowing that it could be you or your friends definitely makes a bigger impact," said Eric Werda, 18, a senior at GHS. Werda was present at both the filming of the mock car accident and the mock courtroom scene in May 2004.

"They are actually people that you know," Werda said, adding that because he recognized the faces of victims and EMS workers and police officers, it made the experience even more realistic.

"It gave kids more perspective on drinking and driving," said Alexa Engel, 17, and a senior at GHS. "But I'm sure it wore off after a little while."

Engel believes the video alone won't leave a lasting impact.

"It's all make believe," she said. "It wasn't realistic enough."

After the video has ended, Debbie Johnson talks to the students at GHS about losing her daughter to a car accident in which alcohol was one of the contributing factors.

For Engel, personal experiences - from family members who have experienced tragedy - are necessary and compelling and real.

"It's happening more than we'll ever hear," said Erin Marquardt, who described underage drinking as a silent problem. "It's the easiest drug to get ahold of and it's easy to lose control."

One hundred copies of the video have been distributed throughout the state and come with a manual of classroom material for teachers.

"Society has become complacent with alcohol and kids using it," said Linda Gall, chair of MCRUD. "This is something that makes parents stop and think and makes kids stop and think."

"We don't profess to be experts, we're just a couple of moms who wanted to do something," said Soffredine.

For more information, Soffredine can be reached at the COP-ESD office by calling 231-238-8551 or e-mailing her at soffredb@pace.k12.mi.us.